If you’ve thought about buying a Nissan Leaf electric car when it comes out later this year, you might consider getting in line now.
The Detroit Free Press reported that 6,600 people had plunked down the required $99 refundable deposit to put their names on a reservation list for the vehicle as of April 25th, less than a week after Nissan began taking reservations. The Wall Street Journal says that 115,000 people have expressed interest in buying a Leaf, although it’s not known how many of those have put money down.
The Leaf, a five-seat hatchback vehicle from Nissan, is expected to go on sale in Oregon, California, Washington, Arizona and Tennessee in December. Nissan says it will be sold across the rest of the United States in 2011.
Nissan has said that the Leaf will have a 100-mile range and will employ a 24 kW-hr lithium-ion battery. As a so-called battery-electric vehicle, it will not employ a back-up internal combustion engine, as the Chevy Volt will. The company says it has the capacity to build 50,000 of the electric vehicles annually for the global market.
Nissan is enabling prospective buyers to reserve the Leaf by going to its website.